Another important and decisive baseball game will be the Andover-Lawrenceville match at Andover a week from to-morrow. This will be the third annual contest between these two big schools, and I am glad to record that neither nine just now is burdened with over-confidence. Andover won the first two matches of the series, by the scores of 5-4, in 1893, and 5-2, in 1894. This year, however, the teams are so nearly matched that it is hardly possible to forecast the result of next week's game. Of last year's Andover players only three have returned to school, the rest of the nine being new players, with whom Captain Drew has labored hard and conscientiously to develop a winning team. But with Drew behind the bat, and Greenway or Sedgwick in the box, P.A. has a battery that it will be hard to find the equal of on any school baseball team. The infield, however, is weak. Barton, at first, plays well, but should cover more territory, and have more confidence in himself. For a man of his small stature Harker covers second in pretty good style, but both he and Elliott, at third, are erratic and somewhat unreliable at critical moments. Edwards has taken Davis's place at short for the past week or two, and has proved equal to Captain Drew's most sanguine expectations. Lawrenceville need not count on any base hits through his territory, as his fielding is clean and his throwing sure. The outfield is much stronger than the infield. Dayton at centre, and Greenway or Sedgwick at left, are sure catchers and strong throwers. Waddell, at right, is the best man in the position that P.A. has had for years, covering all his own territory and part of his neighbors', and throwing with the precision of a veteran. Several times this year he has thrown men out at the plate who were running home from third after a fly caught in deep right field. As for batting, the Andover players have only fair ability, Greenway, Sedgwick, Barton, and Drew being the heaviest hitters. The team work I consider poor, but this will doubtless be greatly improved before the day of the game.
At Lawrenceville the natural opportunities for practice and for the perfection of team-work are no greater than at Andover, but the school system is such that fine ball players are a necessary result of its enforcement. Every scholar at the Lawrenceville School, unless physically disabled, must play ball for at least an hour every day in the spring-time. In the autumn everybody has to play football. In this manner no man goes without exercise, and the best material at hand is discovered and developed. When I was at Lawrenceville last week, nine diamonds were in full operation at one and the same time. In the fall there are eleven football fields in use daily. No wonder Lawrenceville sends good material to the colleges.
Mattis, l. f. Cadwalader, 3rd b. Hastie, r. f. Righter. 2d b.
Slidell, c. f. Ross, 1st b.
M. Gibbon, s. s. Kafer, c. (Capt.) Arrott, p.
LAWRENCEVILLE BASEBALL NINE.
As for the team this year, it is about up to the average of former seasons. Kafer, who has been catching for three years, is Captain, and is doing very satisfactory work. His batting is sometimes erratic, but in a recent game with Pennington he lined out a home run with the bases full in the ninth inning, thus saving the day, as the score then stood 4 to 1 against Lawrenceville. Arrott, the pitcher, is doing well for his second year in baseball. He has not very full control of the ball, but his curves are good, and he possesses more than the average speed. In addition to this, he keeps cool and plays a steadier game as the innings go by. Ross, Righter, and Cadwalader cover the bases, and so far this season Ross has maintained the highest average, scarcely making an error. Righter is a poor thrower, but his batting is very strong. With a little longer experience Cadwalader will develop into one of the best men on the team, and if he can get off some of his 200 pounds of flesh his running would be vastly bettered. McGibbon, at short, is a clean fielder and an accurate thrower; in addition, he bats well. He and Edwards of Andover will no doubt furnish some grand-stand plays for the delectation of their followers. The fielders are only of average ability. As a whole, the nine seems to fall out of harmony in almost every game, and on several occasions this weakness has almost proved disastrous. But most of the players are new men this year, and will be better seasoned a week from now.
In spite of the heavy rain-storm of May 18th the Princeton Interscholastic Tennis Tournament was held at Princeton, resulting in the championship remaining at Lawrenceville. Several of the contestants failed to appear on account of the bad weather, but the playing was nevertheless spirited and exciting. In the finals, Beaman of Lawrenceville met his schoolmate Richards, who had won by default from Robb, and defeated him only after five hard sets, 6-2, 3-6, 9-11, 6-2, and 6-0. By virtue of Beaman's victory the championship silver cup now becomes the permanent property of Lawrenceville.
Scholastic track and field meetings are being held in so many different places just at this season that it is difficult to keep account of them. On May 25th the New York State I.S.A.A. met on the Syracuse University Field under the auspices of the Syracuse High-School and the Cornell A.C., and the Ithaca High-School won by making 31 points. Her nearest rivals were Rochester High with 21, and Buffalo High with 18-1/2 points. Seven schools were represented. At the first spring meet of the Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, there were some good records made. Dyer won the 100 in 10-3/5 sec., and the 220 in 23 sec.; Sanford covered the mile in 5 m. 22-4/5 sec.; Hixon cleared 5 ft. 4-1/2 in. in the high jump; and Conner covered 20 ft. 10 in. in the broad jump. The Hotchkiss athletes will no doubt be heard from at the Connecticut I.S.A.A. games on Saturday.
As has been the case with a number of Eastern field days, rain interfered with the success of the California Academic Athletic League's meeting on May 4th, and few of the athletes were able to do good work. Dawson ran the quarter in one minute flat on a heavy track. McConnell cleared 18 ft. 6 in. in the broad jump, and got a bad scare from Cooley, a new man, untrained, who came dangerously close to him. Cooley will show up well next year, and would, no doubt, have done better if the conditions had been more favorable. The Oakland High-School and San Jose High-School held a fifty-mile bicycle road race relay, last week, of which I hope to be able to speak more in detail as soon as space is available. It was an exciting event, and is a good thing for Eastern bicycle-riders to think of, for there are many places in the neighborhood of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Hartford, and other cities where similar races might be arranged.
Although baseball seemed to languish in the early part of the season, the A.A.L. completed a successful schedule on May 18th, when the Oakland High-School defeated the Alameda University Academy 9 to 1. The O.H.-S. team started out strongly, and had the reputation of the '94 nine clinging to it, '94's players having been the strongest amateur team of California that year. Hall at first, Lanyon in the box, and McCabe behind the bat, were the steadiest players this season. Lanyon caught last year, and is cool, strategic, and quick. He has good speed and good curves, and safe control of the ball. McCabe is a very calm player, bats well, but is weak in throwing to bases. The team work of the nine was good, and in several cases won them games against stronger teams.
As soon as the regular Interscholastic League season of baseball, tennis, track athletics, and cricket closes there will be more time to devote to other branches of sport. During the summer months tennis, rowing, swimming, and sailing will receive their share of attention in this Department, and from the looks of things just now there is every promise that yachting and small-boat racing will be more popular this year than ever before. Many of the large clubs have introduced special classes on their racing programmes. In addition to the Larchmont 21-footers and 34-raters, the Seawanhaka's half-raters, and the Douglaston dingies, the Indian Harbor Yacht Club are now trying to promote a 20-foot racing length, or one-rater class. The imported boats Wave and Shrimp will form a good nucleus to start with, and I understand that several members of the club have promised to build racers of this class.